Glass
by c l e o. tron
Summary: Glass is fragile; it breaks easily. Arthur had broken glass. He had broken Merlin.


A/N; I was supposed to continue 'Poison' because of all your lovely support but I needed a break from it so I decided to write this little piece instead! I'm very sorry! Thank-you for your support and reviews!

* * *

Glass can be beautiful. Clear and crystalline, luminous and light. But glass is fragile and delicate. It can shatter and break into millions of shards and when held to tight, breaks and may never be repaired. Arthur once broke glass and it cut him deeply, blood oozing out which seemed endless. The red liquid pulsed and the ache ran through his whole body. It hurt so much more than he could have imagined. Days, weeks and months were filled with agony as the pain grew stronger. The wound healed over time, slowly and carefully but the long dark scar that runs deep on Arthur's body hasn't faded. It still remains dominant to remind Arthur of that time. The time he shattered that heart of glass.

Merlin loved Arthur with all his heart. He loved Arthur with all he had. He thought Arthur felt the same. He never knew how wrong he was. All the hurt and all the pain– he believed they were signs of love. Merlin was blind. He blames it on himself every day, every waking minute. Because he was blind, he couldn't see the wreck that spilled in front of him even if everybody else could. All he could see was Arthur. All he could hear was Arthur. All he wanted was Arthur. But that day, that summer day, was when Arthur gave him his sight back. When Arthur restored his senses and his mind. But Merlin didn't want them back. Because that day, Arthur had given him his sigh but in return, he had taken his heart. The day that is engraved in Merlin's mind was the day he found out he couldn't solve that puzzle anymore because that time had taken the pieces away. Those words...Merlin could never forget.

"You need to go. Get away from me." Arthur had told him.  
Merlin protested. There was no way he was going. "No! I'm not leaving you!"  
"Why!? Why won't you leave me? Why can't you see what I've done to you? Why can't you see the hurt I've caused you? You need to leave. I need you to leave. I...I can't see you like this anymore. The agony that runs in your eyes."

Arthur told him it was for his own good. But how can it be good when it had crushed him? Merlin never thought Arthur had hurt him, not until then. He thought Arthur had cared for him – had loved him. But Merlin was blind. Everyone had told him that, including Arthur. He thought he wasn't, he thought everyone else were the ones that couldn't see. The ones that couldn't see their love, couldn't see that nothing was going to stop them. But he was wrong. Merlin knows that now. Merlin calls himself a fool, for having so much heart in Arthur. Gwen had told him that he cared too much and that some day, he would regret it. Little did he know she was right all along. Merlin was deaf, as well as blind. He couldn't hear the words that people had told them – that their love would be their death. Merlin never knew how paralysed he was. All he could hear was Arthur's voice. Those words; they were all lies now to Merlin.

"Do you believe that we'll see each other even when time has taken us away?"  
"Of course."  
"Why?"  
"Because love is stronger than time, you moron."

"When I die, will you come with me?"  
"No."  
"Why?"  
"I'll already be there."  
"Why?"  
"Because I'm not letting you leave me first."

"Can love kill you?"  
"No."  
"Gwen told me it could."  
"She's wrong."  
"How do you know?"  
"Love can't kill you. But lack of love can. That's why I know I'll never die because I haven't loved enough."  
"And how can you be so sure?"  
"Because I have you and I will never stop loving you."

"Morgana told me that the waters that flow in the rivers aren't infinite That they won't be there for eternity."  
"Really? And why are you worrying about that for?"  
"Well...I think she was implying something about us."  
"Impossible."  
"How?"  
"We have no water. We have no river. We have love and that flows in our hearts. And that lasts for eternity."

Yes. They were all lies now. All of them.

Arthur believed he was setting Merlin free. Letting Merlin fly away from his cage. Arthur thought he was the one who had imprisoned a bird and clipped its wings so that it would never leave him. He thought he was doing something good, opening that cage door. He didn't realise that the bird didn't want to leave him. The bird wasn't imprisoned; the bird was at home. But Arthur had forced it fly, when it didn't want to; when it couldn't. Instead, that bird didn't learn to fly, but learnt to fall. All he wanted was for that bird to fly freely, for Merlin to love freely. He didn't want to force his love on him and make him stay with him because he had to. He wanted Merlin to stay with him because he wanted to. He didn't know that Merlin was already free. Now he regrets that day and how he was persuaded by everyone telling him to stop and take Merlin away from his suffering. Merlin wasn't suffering. He knows that now. They were all lies now– the ones that all the people in the castle told him. All of them.

Merlin was Arthur's glass. He was fragile and delicate but yet he was so beautiful. Arthur loved Merlin and made sure to take care of him. He made sure to hold him tightly and never let him go just in case he would slip from his grasp. But Arthur held on too tightly, believing that doing this act of love and letting him go would make him happy. Arthur had held on to Merlin to tightly, held on to glass far too much. As a result, it shattered and cut him. It left a scar and torments him every second of his life. Arthur had broken the glass heart. He had broken Merlin. And he would never be able to piece those shards together again.


End file.
